D.W. Blows the Whistle

This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the DVD.

"D.W. Blows the Whistle"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	2
Number in season:	16B
Original airdate:	April 13, 1998 September 14, 1998 February 14, 2002
Credits
Written by:	Barry Rinehart Ian Saunders
Storyboard by:	Robert Yap
Episodes
Previous "Love Notes for Muffy"	Next "Francine Redecorates"

Read transcript

"D.W. Blows the Whistle" is the second half of the sixteenth episode in the second season of Arthur.

Summary

Deputized as a Junior Safety Officer, D.W. sees it as a license to tattle.

Plot

In a fantasy sequence, we see Arthur and Brain road race against Muffy and Francine. Muffy and Francine pass Arthur and Brain to take the lead. But when they are on top of a canyon, Arthur and Brain regain the lead, causing Muffy and Francine to crash into a rock. While they are still racing, Arthur and Brain are pulled over by D.W. (dressed in a police uniform), which causes Muffy and Francine to win the race. D.W. tells the boys that they got a ticket for no license plate and no turn signals, and that the numbers on the car create a distraction. Arthur protests and says that it is a race course, but he and Brain are sent to jail. Brain can't believe how strict D.W. is, but Arthur says that she gets carried away.

D.W. Blows the Whistle

At the Elwood City Public Library, Officer Safety gives a lesson on the ABC's of safety, "Always Be Careful", to D.W. and her classmates. After the presentation, Ms. Turner tells the children to line up because there is something special that they will receive. D.W. is given a safety whistle along with her friends. Then she fantasizes about being dubbed and sworn in as "The Princess of Safety". She is also given a safety pony, which makes her so overjoyed that she hugs him. Following the fantasy sequence, Officer Safety tells the children, "Safety is everybody's responsibility!" Without worry, D.W. promises him that she will be safe.

We now see D.W., Kate, and Jane walk out of the library. D.W. asks Jane if she can bring her safety whistle with her when they go see Mary Moo Cow on Ice. She says yes, but she warns her not to blow it while at the show. When walking down the street, a mother is closing her car door with groceries in her hands while a boy named Matthew is playing with a ball. However, the ball bounces in the street and he tries to go after it. D.W. notices the situation right away and blows her whistle to warn the mother. Just in time, Matthew's mother grabs him before he gets hit by a car. Afterwards, she thanks D.W. for saving his life. D.W. is proud that she used the whistle to stop Matthew in time.

Arthur, on the other hand, is in shock about what happened. He is so shocked that he accidentally drops a wrench on his foot. D.W. believes that she is now the Junior Safety Officer. Arthur and Brain are building a car for the Ratburn Rally Race. D.W. becomes a critic of the car and calls it "a pile of junk" with wheels, despite it being obviously unfinished. Arthur, in anger, replies, "Who asked you?" Jane tells them to calm down, but D.W. blows her safety whistle, claiming that the car is unsafe and has no seat belts. Jane and even Brain blindly note that D.W. has a point in what she's saying and feel it would be a good idea to add some seat belts, forcing Arthur to redo the car from scratch. D.W. notes, "Better to be safe than sorry."

Later in the evening, Arthur is playing with two toy race cars in the bathtub. D.W. blows the whistle multiple times and states little things going on around the house that could be dangerous and unsafe, which annoys Arthur and even their parents.

At school, while setting up dominoes, Francine notes that D.W.'s become a "safety monster" and Arthur's friends complain that D.W.'s been blowing her whistle at them for ridiculous reasons:

• Muffy says that just yesterday, Arthur's sister blew the whistle at her for having long hair, claiming that "long hair is a safety hazard."
• Binky claims that he got in trouble just for saying "Hi" to her, with D.W. justifying it by claiming that he shouldn't talk to strangers (even though he already knows her).

Brain eventually suggests he, Arthur and the others follow D.W. around to try and catch her doing something unsafe—Arthur thinks this is a great idea, because then they could all "blow the whistle" on his sister. After school, Arthur and his friends spy on D.W.. Binky sees that her shoe is unbuckled, but she buckles it back up before they can call her out on it. In Muffy's limo, Francine and Muffy watch the monitor screens. Muffy claims that D.W. is skipping on the sidewalk without a helmet. Francine says Muffy herself does that all the time. Then Muffy and Francine notice D.W. looking at the limo and hide. D.W. looks for a second, then keeps walking. Brain notices that she is coming to an intersection. Arthur is hiding in a trash can and ask what's going on and Brain says that she is heading towards them (and trips). An ice cream cone is lying on the street, which is unsafe. Arthur then tells everyone to get their whistles just in case she picks it up and eats it. When D.W. picks up the cone, she states that it could be dangerous and puts it away in the trash can. Little does she realize that Arthur is inside the trash can hiding. Afterwards, D.W. visits Mrs. Tibble. Arthur, now covered in chocolate ice cream, says that the plan is not working and says that she's the safest person in Elwood City. Francine says that thankfully she won't be at the Ratburn Rally, but Arthur is afraid about that.

He fantasizes about the race. Just before Mr. Ratburn starts the race, D.W. blows her whistle and commands to stop the race with her megaphone. She then says that the Rally is unsafe and tells everyone to remain calm and to have the fire department come to make sure the cars are safe. Afterwards, flat tires are put on with pillows and now D.W. says that they can begin the race. They move at a very slow place. Coincidentally, two snails are by Brain's car. One of the snails says, "This is my kind of race!" D.W. also tells the snails to slow down.

In reality, Arthur's friends are in shock. He reassures them by saying that D.W. won't be there. But unfortunately, later on, while having breakfast with his family the morning before the race the next day, Jane informs her son that he has to bring D.W. to the race with him and keep an eye on her because they have to drop off Kate with Grandma Thora beforehand. Arthur protests this, questioning on why his parents can't just get somebody else to keep an eye on her, rightfully worried that she'll ruin the Ratburn Rally by blowing her whistle at everything. D.W. denies this, by claiming that she'll only blow her whistle if she sees something that's unsafe -- but even her and Arthur's parents agree that she's been getting rather carried away with her whistle blowing. D.W. tries arguing that she's just enforcing the lessons that Officer Safety taught her classmates, but Jane claims that D.W.'s missing the whole point of Officer Safety's lesson, which was to just let people know when someone's about to do something that's actually dangerous -- D.W., by contrast, is just being a tattletale. David ultimately finishes the conversation by saying, " Good. Now, tomorrow, Arthur, you will take D.W. to the race. And D.W., you will not bother Arthur." Arthur shoots his sister a dirty look when she looks over at him.

The next day at the race, Muffy and Francine see D.W. observing the course and get mad at Arthur for bringing his sister to the race -- but Arthur (who makes it clear that his parents didn't exactly give him a choice in the matter) assures his friends that he doesn't want his sister there anymore than they do. Francine claims that if she hears even just one blow from D.W.'s whistle, "[D.W.'s] gonna be one sorry little tattletale." When D.W. notes how steep the hill is, Arthur comes over with Muffy and Francine and tells D.W. to go away and sit down until the race is over. D.W. then tells him that he's not the boss of her before angrily stomping off.

Mr. Ratburn then steps onto the podium and welcomes everyone to the Ratburn Rally. He tells the crowd he really likes the creativity of the cars and let the races begin. D.W., way in the back of the crowd, complains that she can't see anything and questions how she'll be able to tell if people are being safe or not. She looks up at a nearby tree and has an idea, she decides to climb it to get a better view of the race. Eventually, she climbs to the highest part of the unstable tree—but just as she's about to blow her whistle after she sees a tire from a car spring loose, she drops her whistle and quickly realizes that she has no way of climbing down. Realizing just how (genuinely) dangerous her situation is, D.W. starts screaming for help—this gets the attention of Francine and Arthur, the latter of whom advises D.W. to stay put while Muffy runs to get help from Mr. Ratburn. Mr. Ratburn calls the fire department, who get D.W. down to the ground safely, in the process, delaying the race. Then the firefighter gives D.W. her whistle; he ironically turns out to be Officer Safety after he tells her to be safe.

Arthur's parents arrive and ask what all the commotion is about. Arthur, not wanting his parents to get angry or worried, simply tells them that "some girl" got stuck in a tree, not specifying that it was D.W. After David and Jane both hope the girl is alright, D.W. (feeling guilty) admits that she was the girl who got stuck in the tree and acknowledges that it was really foolish of her to have climbed the tree so high, but she went ahead and did it anyway and apologizes for what she did. Realizing the danger that her daughter put herself in, Jane asks if she’s okay and then questions her why she did so—Arthur admits that the situation was partly his fault, as he had told D.W. to go away and not ruin the Ratburn Rally. Jane (who reprimands both her children: Arthur for not watching D.W. and telling her to go away and D.W. for climbing up a tree) is at least glad that the kids are safe.

Afterwards, it's time for Arthur and Brain to race against Muffy and Francine—just before their race is about to start, D.W. notices that Arthur's helmet strap isn't fastened. Just as she's about to blow her whistle, she reconsiders (most likely remembering the dangerous situation she just out of) and simply runs up to her brother to let him before he takes off. Arthur thanks his sister for the reminder and makes sure to properly fasten helmet. Then Mr. Ratburn waves the green flag and the race goes on.

Characters

Major

• D.W. Read
• Arthur Read
• Jane Read
• David Read
• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Binky Barnes
• Brain
• Officer Safety

Minor

• Mr. Ratburn
• Kate Read
• Mrs. Tibble
• Ms. Turner
• Thora Read

Cameo

• Emily Leduc
• Alex Davidson
• Maria Pappas
• Amanda Hulser
• Maryann
• Kyle
• Mary (3rd grader)
• Brian
• Kenny
• 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
• Matthew
• Matthew's mother
• Mr. Haney
• Mrs. MacGrady
• Fern Walters
• George Lundgren
• Prunella Deegan
• Jenna Morgan
• 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
• 3rd Grade Male Rat

Mentioned

• Mary Moo Cow

Trivia

• Moral: While it is okay to care about other's well-being, don't be too nosy to others.
• It is possible that Francine and Muffy paid Cop D.W. to pull over Arthur and Brain so they could win the race since Cop D.W. did not go after them- only Arthur and Brain. It is possible that Cop D.W. just made up those crimes she accused Arthur and Brain of doing, just so she could put them in jail.

Episode connections

• D.W.'s whistle appears again in "D.W. Aims High."
• Fire safety is discussed again in "D.W. All Fired Up."
• D.W. mentions climbing the tree in Arthur's Knee, even though that episode aired before this one.

Errors

• Arthur yells a little too early before he drops a wrench on his foot.
• Mom and Dad were going to drop Kate off at Grandma Thora's. In the scene where Mr. Ratburn says, "Will the first racers please approach the starting line?", Grandma Thora is seen in the crowd with her back to the camera. Also later on when Arthur tells D.W. they'll get her down, their dad is seen in the crowd looking worried.
• While at the race, Arthur is wearing his racing clothes known as his black pants and blue racing shirt with the number 29 on it, but after D.W. climbs the tree and a racer's race car that looks like an airplane breaks down just as everyone gasps, and when D.W. drops her whistle and calls for help, he's seen wearing his regular clothes a few times.

Production Notes

• This is the first episode to use the Arthur Taking a Bath title card.
• Many program scheduling systems mistakenly label this episode as the previous episode, "Grandma Thora Appreciation Day/Fern's Slumber Party".

Gallery

Home Video

DVD:

• Arthur: The Complete Series 3
• D.W. Blows the Whistle (DVD)